Iris Apfel thinks we already know too much about her. But to know just a little bit about this feisty international icon is to want to know oh-so-much more.
“I’m a very private person,” she says. “I try to do what I can for people, but I’m very opposed to celebrity culture. When people call me a celebrity, I get offended.”
It’s easy to see why. Apfel has worn a lot of hats over the course of her 100 years, from businessperson, to interior designer for nine presidents, to model, brand ambassador, and probably a few things that we haven’t heard about yet. Her late-life renown has come largely from the fact that she has also worn a lot of singular outfits, accentuated with miles of bangles, dramatic necklaces, and large-framed eyewear. She may want to keep to herself, but she is hard to miss because she is so unapologetically herself. Whether she’s popping up in an ad for her Zenni line, posing for the cover of a magazine, or inspiring her very own Barbie, Iris Apfel is every bit as brilliant, dear, and busy as she ever was.
And she’s got a lot more up her colorful sleeves.
“[Iris is] living proof that you can be beautiful, stylish, and wear high fashion at any age,” say Tommy and Dee Hilfiger, who met Iris at a White House Christmas party. “We became close friends, and she has been an inspiration to both of us. She’s a model, a spokesperson, a designer, and she has a very sharp business acumen as well as a creative imagination. She is full of great stories and has a unique perspective on life. We really adore her.”
Born Iris Barrel on August 29, 1921, she grew up exploring Manhattan on her own. Antiques shops were an early passion of hers, as were the fabrics she used to play with in her grandmother’s home. Her mother influenced her life greatly, in part because she was a businesswoman with a great sense of personal style.
“She gave up 10 years of her life to raise me, then went back to work and I was very upset about it,” she says. “Being a child, I didn’t realize that it was the Depression and certain things had to be done.”
It ultimately became one of the reasons she decided not to have children. “I knew I wanted a career, and I didn’t want to be held back,” she says. “I also didn’t want my child to be raised by a nanny. Because the thing is, you can’t have it all. You have to make decisions.”
As a young woman, Apfel began forging her own path and sense of chic. That and her moxie are likely what enabled her to meet Duke Ellington backstage while she was an art history student.
After college, she became a “copy girl” for Women’s Wear Daily, running copy between editors for $15 a week. “It kept me in good shape. I didn’t even have to go to the gym,” she says. “I couldn’t afford it anyway.”
She’d already developed her flair for assembling looks that were vibrant, textural, and, most importantly, original. She threw herself into work, and soon took herself on a trip to Lake George. It was the first vacation she could pay for by herself, but it would prove to be momentous for an entirely different reason: She met Carl Apfel, who would become the love of her life.
“Well, he was busy with someone else, and I was too, so we never got together up there,” Apfel says. “But a month later in New York, I was having lunch with an old beau of mine who was working for Neiman Marcus buying haute couture. He was fond of my mother, so we went to lunch at The Plaza Hotel with her. After lunch, he wanted to walk me back to my job, but as we passed Bonwit Teller, he and my mother stopped to critique the windows. It was getting late and I had to go, so I left.”
Later that night, she came home to a phone that was ringing off the hook.
“It was Mr. Apfel,” she says of her late husband, who died in 2015 at age 100. “And he told me he loved the hat I was wearing today, and that I had on a smashing suit. He had been on a bus that broke down in front of Bonwit Teller, and as he was waiting there for someone to come and fix it, he was looking at me.”
They made a date for Columbus Day. On Thanksgiving, Carl proposed. On Christmas, he gave her a ring. The following February, in 1948, they married and headed to their honeymoon in Palm Beach. “I got off the train in Palm Beach with seven pieces of old luggage and one new husband,” she says.
The couple stayed at the Palm Beach Hotel. “It was a really swinging place with a beach club at the end of the street where you could have breakfast or lunch,” Apfel recalls. “It was a wonderful place and we met so many nice people there. We really had a great time.”
Two years after their honeymoon, the Apfels co-founded Old World Weavers, a business that replicated the historic fabrics they saw on their travels. It was a runaway success and led to several high-profile design projects for clients like Estée Lauder and Greta Garbo. As Old World Weavers grew, Palm Beach started changing. The Apfels began to visit it more and they made a lot of close friends.
One of them is Christine Aylward, who first met Iris at a Preservation Foundation event. “When I saw her, I ran over to her and told her I was a big fan of hers,” Aylward says. “And she looked at me coolly and said, ‘Who are you?’ We hit it off then and have been friends ever since.”
New York–based designer Naeem Khan also deeply values his decades-long friendship with Apfel, because she taught him the importance of being true to himself. “She is such an incredible friend when she makes you a friend,” Khan says. “I had been busy traveling, and she reached out recently to wish me a happy New Year and to tell me how much she misses me. I simply adore her and wonder how I can be more like her. If she’s ever gone, there will be a tremendous void in my life.”
Currently, due to the pandemic, Apfel is restricting her social activities, so she spends time reading, thinking, or finding new ways to amuse herself. She says she’s tired of being treated “like a coddled egg” but is willing to give up a few things so she can stay healthy. “I have a nice terrace, so I get my fresh air that way,” she adds.
Apfel is adamant about living in the present and letting ugly, hard, and horrible things go. Perhaps it’s the secret to her longevity and the reason why she’s such an American treasure. Right before her 100th birthday, she was awarded the Andrée Putman Lifetime Achievement Award for her continued ability to shape the style zeitgeist. She was also named the ambassador for the Bone Health & Osteoporosis Foundation and will introduce a new line of clothing with retailer H&M in March.
Throughout her centennial year, people have continued to celebrate her, and she says there have been “so many little parties I feel like I’m now 112.”
On March 30, the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens (ANSG) will announce that Iris is a member of its national advisory council at an Evening of Music and Art in the Gardens. A portrait of Iris, painted by Bradley Theodore, ANSG’s 2022 artist in residence, will be unveiled that night as well.
“Knowing Iris is a special opportunity to be inspired,” says Frances Fisher, a longtime friend and chairperson of the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens. “She has got abundant individuality and authenticity and a light heart that allows you to know her and understand what she means to the lives of others.”
Going forward, Apfel hopes she can continue to stay healthy so that she can keep doing the things she loves. “I have had some wonderful years,” she says. “And I hope I have another year as good as this one has been.”
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